To hate fireworks and those who set them off

[Sallyh87]

I had just gotten my two year old who is a very bad sleeper and is sleep regressing down and suddenly very loud fireworks start which of course wakes her up.

I am so tired I am ready to cry.

9.30 on a Monday night, it’s not Mardi Gras! Surely they have jobs to go to in the morning.

Also, I don’t have one but I feel sorry for the dogs as well, the fireworks must scare them!

Anyway writing that down made me feel better.

I just wish they would make them all silent for the sake of animals, people with autism etc. Sounded like a war zone outside my house last night. Thought Diwali was the festival of light, not gunfire!

Festival of light. Oh that explains why they sound like bombs exploding! Tossers

Well I'm pretty sure fireworks are beneficial for peoples mental health too.

After all, people don't let them off because they make them miserable.

One thing I am sure about is that navigating my way around a nasty pile of crap every morning does nothing for my mental health whatsoever.

Yep.

The police use dogs. They also use guns.

I don't think I would argue that just because the police use guns and they are useful to them everyone should be allowed to have a gun.

I agree dogs are generally more useful to society than fireworks and have some positive impacts. But then dogs probably have a lot more negative impacts on society than fireworks in terms of the mess and noise they make and the injuries they cause.

Where the balance point is, IDK.

I agree dogs are generally more useful to society than fireworks and have some positive impacts. But then dogs probably have a lot more negative impacts on society than fireworks in terms of the mess and noise they make and the injuries they cause.

Oh Lord!

Because fireworks don't make a mess? Have you ever looked into the environmental damage of fireworks? Both in their production and in their use?

I don’t mind them for organised events when you can expect them - bonfire night, New Year, Diwali, although I think any noisy stuff should be for organised events only. You can get the quieter ones for your garden.
We get quite a few announcements on our local FB page every couple of weeks ‘letting people know’ (because of course everyone in town checks the local spotted page regularly…) that they will be setting off fireworks for a dead relative who passed away 5 years ago and it’s become a tradition to do this every year now. Replies are always very supportive but I personally think it’s a selfish and twattish and self indulgent thing to do. Just light a bloody candle or something.

I love them. I think they are pretty. I used to be frightened of them but I'm ok now. Looking forward to seeing them this year and will be doing lots.

Can't we just have silent fireworks?

I’ve no problem with public firework displays that are arranged in advance for special occasions .. but I do get frustrated with neighbours letting them off in their gardens.

Our next door neighbours let them off over multiple nights at the start of November. It’s a terraced street with narrow houses and gardens, so it feels and sounds like the fireworks are literally right outside the door. The noise can be horrendous. One of our dogs barks constantly at the door, in an attempt to guard the house. The other dog sits and shakes, and in previous years has urinated all over the kitchen floor because he’s too scared to use the garden, and has shit all over the living room overnight because he didn’t want to do it outside.

These people don’t realise the impact they have on others when they set these fireworks off .. or I suspect many don’t give a fuck.

Fireworks do make a mess.

Probably nowhere near the environmental impact of dogs though.

There are about 13 million dogs in the UK. That's probably the best part of a million tonnes of crap to clear up every single day. Add to that the methane generation and the fact that a lot of them live on meat, which has a significant environmental impact.

It takes about twice as much land to feed a medium sized dog per year as it does to grow the fuel to drive an SUV 10,000 km.

Still, I don't mind people having dogs. I even pet them occasionally. I get annoyed by the crap they produce, the noise they make and the fact that they run wild, slobber all over my clothes out of control. I can handle all of that.

But when people start wanting to ban other stuff because of dogs - that's going a bit too far IMO.

Absolutely hate them, especially very late at night. They’re just glorified and legalised bombs.

Totally agree @GasPanic

I don't like silent fireworks I think the bang is what makes them great to experience. Obviously not for every one. I've got 2 kids with autism and they love rockets but I can appreciate someone else's children may not.

NOT JUST ABOUT DOGS. There is that clear enough for you?

I hate them too and they terrify my dogs.
No need late at night.
Pure selfishness and not to mention dangerous.

Guarantee the majority of the posters parroting "ITS DIWALI" didn't know that until they opened this thread.

Bore off, no ones impressed.

Thanks all, they stopped at about 10pm around here. I hadn’t in my ignorance realised it was Diwali so I will decide to hate fireworks and not necessarily those who set them off!

Toddler did go back to sleep for those who asked and then I did too so in a much better place today! Will mentally prepare myself for bonfire night.

OP it doesn't make you ignorant at all. The vast majority of people couldn't give you the date of all religious festivals of the top of their head. I have no clue when Eid or

Many other religious festivals are, as I'm sure many Muslims couldn't name and date all the Christian festivals. Don't worry.

Do you have any compassion for those who are STILL frightened of them?

Thought not

Fireworks are crap. Boring, repetitive, noisy and pointless.

And yes, they cause unnecessary stress and injury to both people and animals.

They should be banned.

For those with stressed out animals - classic fm. They have a special programme for animals on bonfire night too which can be played at any time from the app

My cat loves it. Might help some of you xx

@MistyGreenAndBlue Not really no there's plenty of help out there and it's a few days a year. Most people get used to it 🤷🏽‍♀️

Fireworks are crap. Boring, repetitive, noisy and pointless.

Well they clearly aren't pointless, since people find them entertaining and choose to go and watch them. Not everyone sees noise as a bad thing.

Guarantee the majority of the posters parroting "ITS DIWALI" didn't know that until they opened this thread. Bore off, no ones impressed.

Why would you assume that someone giving easily accessible information was wanting to impress anyone?

Classic FM is just Mendelssohn violin concerto on a loop isn't it? Or at least it was last time I heard it.

So yeah play that to your dogs.

I do find this annual tradition of bitching about fireworks tedious. Largely because of all the wittering about "veterans with PTSD".

I used to have PTSD acquired in conflict situations and I've always loved fireworks. Fireworks sound nothing like armed conflict and the triggers for PTSD are many and varied because the human brain is complex. It really is reductive to correlate fireworks and conflict trauma -those of us who experience it are honestly not simple minded nincompoops cowering under tables at the merest sound of a roman candle.

When you have PTSD it affects every aspect of how you perceive the world and the key to getting better is good trauma focused therapy, not banning fireworks. I do wish that people who dislike fireworks for whatever reasons they have would stop co-opting trauma survivors into their little arguments. We've got enough to be getting on with fgs.